July 29, 2024
34.4 mile
5873′ gain/5902′ loss
I was awake at 5:15am and on trail by 5:50am. My body felt stronger today, and the altitude felt a bit easier. Watching the sun rise over the distant mountains was beautiful, and it was that much better because I was able to talk on the phone with my partner for a little while as I watched the sky changing colors and deer grazing in the early morning light. And seeing distant mountains, after 2 days of being surrounded by trees, started to give me hope and excitement for upcoming mountain adventures.
Today involved a lot of mountain bikers. I paralleled with a few handfuls of MTB all day, and it was encouraging to have them express suprise each time I passed them on the uphill and then how far I managed to go before they caught me on the downhill. Towards the tail end of the day, as I got closer to Frisco, I had the most negative MTB experience of my entire trip, with a man in Spandex roaring down the center of the trail. He never hesitated on the narrow trail, just kept barreling towards me. He would have collided with me if I hadn’t thrown myself into the bushes. Thankfully, he was the exception; everyone else was thoughtful and considerate of others on this multi-use trail.
At one of the day’s water sources, I met Psycho, Spinewalker, and one other CT SOBO/eastbound thruhiker. They were resting in the shade and didn’t seem interested in chatting much so I refilled my water, started ramen soaking, and headed out.
I climbed up and over one of my first mountain passes, Georgia Pass. I missed that there was an 8-mile stretch without water, so I got quite thirsty on the long climb, with my throat sticking to itself. I was starting to learn to keep track of distance between water and to mistrust ridge walking and mountain passes, at least in terms of access to water. Nearby Georgia Pass, the CT finally met up with the CDT!
I pushed on for quite a long time, stopping at sundown just 3mi away from the road crossing into Frisco. After a phone call and checking bus schedules, I realized I could do a ~15 mile slackpack tomorrow, using public transit. The motel opened at 7am and was willing to hold my overnight gear while I hiked back. I set up a cowboy camp for the night, and tried to get to sleep with the excitement of town the next day.
Transcending Mountains 